Path to Enlightenment - Part Three
by Lillian
Summary: Xander lands a new client with a hidden agenda (don't they all!) Angel vs. Toadman...who will be victorious? Find out in today's episode of PTE3


Disclaimer: Author does not claim ownership of the characters or plot development mentioned from/of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Angel" These belong to Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and ect. All other character, you don't recognize of plot fluff are mine.  
  
  
  
HARVEY'S RARITIES & BOOKSTORE - 11:00 PM  
  
"Thanks Harvey! I'll tell Angel you said hi," Xander said as he stepped out the back entrance into the alleyway. "What a nice old man. Complementary cookies and old creepy books, I'm surprised the man's not a millionaire. Well hello…what do we have here," Xander said.  
  
They were sounds all to familiar to him. Sounds of someone struggling against some dark enemy in a badly lit alleyway. Xander pulled the stake from his front pocket of his jacket and placed the book Angel had sent him to get on the ground.   
  
"No sense in getting anymore dust on the ol' book," Xander said as he tried to calm himself before the fight. Pausing for a moment to look at the stake he had brought with him Xander felt a smile emerge on his face.  
  
He had pulled out a stake that Buffy had jokingly inscribed for him. One word summed up by his friend to attacking vamps: Beware. The smile faded as he realized the vampire was standing right in front of him with a girl in his arms. Note to self, read warning labels after dusting baddies!   
  
As the vampire dropped the unconscience girl to the ground, Xander wondered to himself if the inspiration for Buffy's inscription was more personal than he realized. Obviously it had more then one warning. Beware, pfft! Yeah, beware the vampires that might catch you admiring this stake and kill ya dead! Got the message Buff, loud and clear.  
  
"Anyone ever tell you to pick on someone your own size, Fangboy!" Xander shouted.   
  
The vampire tilted his head to the side looking Xander up and down, "Like you?" he hissed.  
  
Xander took a step back tripping on whatever he hoped wasn't a rat. He hated rats worse than he hated vampires. The vampire fell on top of Xander who was still holding his stake. Fangboy screamed with anger as he poofed into a cloud of dust. Xander tried not to breathe as the dusted vamp fell in his hair and onto his clothing. Note to self, number six on top ten list of Grossest Things to Do in LA: Vamp Dust Taste Testing!  
  
Xander sat up looking around when the girl stumbled out from behind the dumpster towards him, almost giving him a heart attack. Clutching his hand over his chest, Xander closed his eyes…trying to envision his happy place.  
  
"Are you okay?" Xander asked. The girl simply shook her head and continued to scan the alleyway, wondering what had happened to the man that had attacked her. She walked over to Xander and offered a hand to help him up.   
  
If Xander had never come in contact with a vampire before he would have sworn that this girl was strong for her size…but then the pointy teeth retreating back into her gums gave her Supergirl power's away.  
  
ANGEL INVESTIGATIONS - 11:55 PM  
  
Xander rushed into the office out of breath, "Where's Angel?" he snapped at Cordelia.   
  
"Gee Cordelia, you look great. Did you have a nice time on your date tonight? Well since you asked Xander, my phantom roommate Dennis locked me in the bathroom for four hours and when I was unable to answer the door, he left. So, no I didn't have a great time on my date tonight! But thanks for asking." Cordelia said. Noticing Xander didn't care about her night she said, "Angel's not here."  
  
A woman appeared behind Xander and walked into the office to stand by his side.   
  
"Hey, I didn't invite you in yet!" Xander shouted. Cordelia catching on faster then usual grabbed a stake from her desk drawer.  
  
"Xander, no one alive lives here, remember?" Cordelia informed him.   
  
"Right, you can put the stake away, she is on our side!" Xander said. "Cordelia this is Holly. What do you mean Angel's not here?"  
  
"He's out dusting vampires with Wesley. What makes you think I'm gonna believe Holly is on our side? Her obvious lack of attention to her wardrobe since 1980 or her dangerous overbite problem?" Cordelia said sarcastically .   
  
"Cordelia get Angel on the batphone…or whatever you guys are calling it these days, we got trouble! There's a new Master in town and we don't have time for your trust or fashion police issues!" Xander said.   
  
"Whatever! I'll try his cell phone, but if I catch you looking at my neck, your hero here will be Pledging you off my desk for a week, got it?" Cordelia threaten.   
  
Xander rolled his eyes and turned to Holly. "Have a seat. Can I get you anything to…never mind."   
  
Holly sat on the couch and continued to keep her eyes on the floor. She didn't want Cordelia to see the anger that was building up. She wanted this tall brunette to drop dead and when she heard the loud thud next to the desk, Holly just assumed her wish had been granted.   
  
  
TRAIN YARD - Little after 1 AM  
  
"Why are we waiting for them again?" Wesley asked.   
  
"Because Xander said that he had something very important to show me, plus he's not used to understanding Cordelia in mid-vision. He wasn't sure what we were going up against. Best to have everyone here," Angel explained.  
  
Xander pulled up in his rented jalopy as he turned off the engine and it glided to a stop. Angel could see that Cordelia was not too happy about something as she stepped out of the car holding an ice pack to her temple with one hand and a stake in the other. He walked cautiously over to the car as soon as he saw Holly step out.   
  
"Xander, I know that the Watcher sense hasn't kicked in yet, but you'd think after all these years you would be able to spot a vampire," Angel said.  
  
"Angel it's cool, she's with me," Xander said suddenly realizing that everyone was standing ten feet away from him. "You might want to listen to what she has to say before you stake her."  
  
A loud crash of metal off in the distance distracted everyone from the showdown between Xander's new friend and Angel's patrol team.  
  
"Cordelia, what was in your vision?" Wesley asked as everyone tried to figure out where the sound had come from.   
  
"Big toady like demon. Oh and I'm pretty sure you want to stay away from his glare," Cordelia said. Angel followed the direction of the repeated sounds of someone being thrown up against a metal wall as they all fell in behind him.   
  
"Why is that?" Xander asked.   
  
"Because it shoots poisonous darts out from its temples," Cordelia stated.  
  
"Interesting! Could be a Vishuarian," Wesley offered as they walked around the skeletal remains of an abandoned train to find the demon already in battle.  
  
"Hey look everyone! It's Jordan and she's teaching toadman how to dance," Xander joked.   
  
"All of you stay here," Angel said whipping Wesley around to remove a dagger from his weapons pack. "If Wesley is right, those darts are lethal to humans. I've got to get Jordan out of there."  
  
A roundhouse kick to the demon's face sent him staggering backward causing him to bump into Angel. Turning to see Angel he laughed at the thought these two mortals would dare to stop him. Formally introducing Angel to his elbow was the first mistake he made.   
  
"Vampire!" toadman hissed.   
  
Jordan was surprised to see Angel's game face as he blocked more punches to his face from the demon. Angel dropped close to the ground sweeping the demon off its feet. The demon back rolled and hopped out of Angel's advance with the dagger.   
  
Jordan pulled her own dagger from under her leather jacket and threw it towards the demon, pinning its right hand to a wooden crate stacked behind him. In reaction to the pain, the demon shot two darts from its temples in Jordan's direction.   
  
"Jordan!" Angel screamed as he watched her fall to the ground. He ran to her side to inspect her wounds. She had been hit once in the chest and was unconscience, but still breathing.  
  
The demon ripped the dagger from its hand and took one leap towards Angel. Jumping on the vampire's back and pinning his arms to his sides, he held on for the wild ride as the vampire tried to free himself. He was going to rip this vampire's head off while his poisonous dart finished off the girl. Rather busy night, all in all!  
  
Angel struggled against the weight of the demon on his back. He tried to stab the demon with his own dagger, but both of his arms were still pinned to his sides. A sound of bones breaking rang in Angel's memory as he was suddenly released from the embrace of the toad-like demon, and turned to find Holly standing behind him.  
  
Jordan awoke to see Holly standing in front of Angel looking down at the fallen Vishuarian. She watched in horror as pain filled every muscle in her body, preventing her from protecting or warning Angel.  
  
Angel looked down to see that Holly had broken the demon's neck. She held out her hand and Angel handed her the dagger. Holly knelt down by the demon as the others gathered around to see what had happened. She raised the dagger over the demon and plunged it into his chest.   
  
Cutting a small line with the dagger, Holly reached into the demon's chest and pulled out its heart. She stood up holding the still beating heart covered with green slime in her hand, and then tossed it on the ground a few feet away.   
  
Stunned, Angel turned to help Jordan, but she was gone.   
  
"What the hell," Angel said.   
  
"Hey, where'd she go now," Cordelia asked.   
  
"Maybe she poofed!" Xander said walking around where Jordan had fallen. There were no signs that she had walked away.   
  
"She's wounded. I have to find her," Angel said running his hand over the ground where Jordan had been.   
  
"What, can you smell her blood or something?" Wesley asked.   
  
"No, I saw the dart in her chest. Cordelia can you take me to her house?"   
  
"Yeah, sure thing Angel," She replied.   
  
"Hey, what about me?" Xander asked.   
  
"Your not hurt," Angel replied as they all began to walk to the two vehicles parked on the other side of the train yard.   
  
"Angel if you haven't noticed, Holly needs to talk to you. It's not everyday that the undead want to leading a helping hand, no offense."  
  
Angel stopped abruptly and turned to face the group that was following him. His eyes were full of anger as they fell on Holly. He needed to find Jordan to make sure she was all right, why couldn't they understand that. Nothing a vampire had to say was worth losing a new ally in the fight against evil.  
  
"Angel, the new Master is readying his forces to open the hellmouth here in LA," Holly began.   
  
"New Master?" Angel asked.   
  
"Yes. There were four pure demons that escaped before the gates of hell were closed and humans were allowed to walk the earth. The one killed in Sunnydale was only the first," Holly said.   
  
They stopped at Angel's car as they waited for Holly to continue with her story. "Why have they waited so long to open the hellmouth. The Master in Sunnydale was trapped for hundreds of years, why was he only the first to try to open the hellmouth?" Angel asked.  
  
"Don't think they haven't tried young warrior," Holly began. "They've sent their hordes of demons to open one of the many hellmouths time and time again, but each time their armies have been destroyed by warriors of light."   
  
"Why do you want to help us? You are a soulless demon who obviously hasn't missed the pleasure of the kill?" Angel stated. He would not trust this vampire. In her slender frame with short blonde hair and large brown eyes, the demon wore the face of a child. Her actions proved otherwise and Angel knew better than anyone did, never trust a demon, even if it wore the face of innocence.  
  
"Long story short, he killed my lover after we declined to help with his plan to destroy the world. Losing Zachary after spending a century of blissful undying rapture together …well, I wasn't about to welcome the end of the world…the only thing left I know," Holly said as she summoned tears for her captive audience.   
  
"Angel, maybe this is something we better look into?" Wesley said.   
  
"Fine, you take her back to the office and get as many details as possible. Don't make her too comfortable and keep her away from the weaponry!" Angel said as he jumped into his convertible. Cordelia stepped passed Xander who had formed a small wall between Holly and the rest of the group and handed him her stake as she too climbed in to the Angelmobile.   
  
JORDAN'S MANOR - Twenty minutes to sunrise  
  
Jordan rubbed lotion on the scar that was forming where she had pulled out the dart. It would be gone in an hour. The bruises to her face were going to have to heal on their own. Just a few scrapes across her cheekbone where the Vishuarian had struck.  
  
Jordan could see in the mirror as she cleaned her wounds, that the security cam had come to life revealing Angel's convertible outside her gates.   
  
"Helloooo, anyone home?" Cordelia's voice called out through the intercom system. "I've got a vampire here who always burns first time out in the sun! You might wanna let us in."  
  
Jordan knew Cordelia was right. The sun was about to come up. It was like a choir of angels singing to her body signaling its arrival. She buzzed them in through the gates and shut down the mystical energy field to let them pass.  
  
"Take the car home, I'll call you if I need help after I'm done getting some answers," Angel said. Cordelia slid over to the drivers seat and followed his command without question.   
  
The door to Jordan's manor opened automatically, but as Angel took a step forward, he was pushed back by an invisible force. Toby ran to the door to greet Angel and waited on the other side of the threshold for Jordan to invite him in. Jordan must be human. I can not enter without her invitation, yet the poison from the dart would have killed her or at least prevented her from leaving the scene without a struggle.   
  
Angel could see Jordan descending from the spiral staircase near the windows that framed the back portion of the manor. "Well don't just stand there letting in all the creatures of the night. Come in already," Jordan said.   
  
She walked to the windows and began to pull the heavy drapes closed as a courtesy to Angel. "I figured you forgot your 200spf in all the fighting with the Vishuarian," Jordan said turning to face Angel as she closed the last one.   
  
Jordan was wearing her silk pajamas and Angel's eyes immediately fell to her chest where the material was slightly open revealing a small star shaped scar just below her collarbone in the center of her chest. Jordan realized Angel's glare and quickly clasped the material together around her neck with her hands.  
  
"You're not human!" Angel said walking closer to Jordan. Jordan lowered her gaze to the floor where Toby sat wagging her tail. She bent down to pet the Labrador, her only comfort in this world.   
  
"Angel you are in danger. That is why I came to you, to help you. Who or what I am is not important," Jordan said.   
  
"Sorry I didn't mean to sound so harsh. I'm just confused as to why I have to be invited into a home when that dart should have killed you back at the train yard," Angel said.   
  
Jordan stood up and walked to the window opening the drapes a sliver to see the sunrise. "There is only one way out of this house and it looks as though you just missed the last sun-free trolley. Make yourself comfortable, I need to get some rest," Jordan said.  
  
He was safe for the time being. As long as he was here, the vampire she had seen in her first vision that sent her to Angel could not harm him.   
  
END PART THREE   



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